Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Raises Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in General Mills by 10.2% in Q4 to 711,120 shares (about $33.19 million), representing roughly 0.13% of the company.
• Wall Street sentiment has turned negative with multiple firms cutting price targets and ratings, leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Reduce and a consensus target price of $43.22.
• General Mills missed quarterly EPS expectations ($0.64 vs. $0.73) and saw revenue decline 8.4% year-over-year, while declaring a $0.61 quarterly dividend (6.9% yield).

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 711,120 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 65,817 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.13% of General Mills worth $33,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company's stock worth $1,700,060,000 after buying an additional 145,701 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in General Mills by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,956,665 shares of the company's stock worth $494,548,000 after buying an additional 1,368,041 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,664,990 shares of the company's stock worth $386,469,000 after buying an additional 883,150 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,628,421 shares of the company's stock worth $384,625,000 after buying an additional 1,383,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in General Mills by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,585,110 shares of the company's stock worth $281,601,000 after buying an additional 16,028 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on GIS shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on General Mills from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on General Mills from $42.00 to $36.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded General Mills from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on General Mills from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $43.22.

General Mills Stock Up 0.9%

GIS opened at $35.50 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.04 and a 12 month high of $57.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $18.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.68 and a beta of 0.01. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $39.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.34.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The business had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.66%.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc NYSE: GIS is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company's portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.

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